Swept in St. Louis, O's have not lost since

It might have been a tired team that took the field at Oriole Park Monday to face the Boston Red Sox after a challenging road trip filled with rain delays.

But they looked well rested when hitting.

The O’s posted an 11-3 win in the series-opener with Boston. They are now 4-0 versus the Red Sox on the season, scoring 34 runs and they have won nine of their past 12 against Boston.

The Orioles have won each of their first four versus Boston for the first time in any season since 1967. The best-ever start was an 8-0 in 1960.

Since the O’s got swept in St. Louis they have won a season-high five in a row scoring 34 runs to average 6.8 per game in this streak with 23 extra-base hits and an .838 OPS.

Kyle Stowers had a huge game with two doubles, three hits and four RBIs for his third career multi-RBI game.

Adley Rutschman had a multi-RBI game for the fourth time in his last five. He drove in two Monday and has nine RBIs his past five games and 15 over the last 13.

In his last 33 games since April 19, Rutschman is batting .312 with an .884 OPS along with nine homers and 30 RBIs.

The Orioles are 8-2 this season against the AL East and 40-22 (.645) since the beginning of 2023.

The 2024 Birds became the fourth club in Baltimore team history to win at least 34 of their first 52 games. The 1970 club won 35 while the 1997 and 1969 teams won 37. Two of those three teams played in the World Series, with of course the O's winning it in '70 and the ’97 O’s advanced to the American League Championship Series.

Hyde on the late offense: The Orioles didn’t need any late runs in the game on Monday afternoon. But they got some anyway, scoring four times in the seventh to open an 11-0 lead on Boston.

The Orioles scored nine runs in the seventh inning or later in their four-game sweep at Chicago. In team batting in the seventh inning or later this year the Orioles’ .444 slugging percentage is tops in the majors in such situations as are their 26 homers. They have a team OPS of .764 in late-game spots, that is second-best in the majors.

What makes the O’s so good late in the games?

“Last year too and the year before,” said manager Brandon Hyde when asked about this yesterday before the game. “It doesn’t make a ton of sense honestly when your numbers are better in the back third of the game because of the arms you’re facing.

“I just think our guys stay in the fight so well. Think for some reason our at-bats do get better later in the game and maybe they lock it in a little bit more or whatever it may be. But we have a talented group of hitters that can do a lot of different things. We’re athletic, we can run, we definitely can hit with power.

“We’ve played so many close games the last two to three years that, we never feel like we’re out of a game. We feel like we just need someone to get on base to get a rally going. Our process the last third of the game is really good.”

Hyde on Gunnar: They put up big numbers on Monday on offense with just one hit from Gunnar Henderson. He went 1-for-4 with a walk and is now batting .264/.361/.589/.950 with 17 homers and 37 RBIs. He has now drawn 12 walks his last 10 games.

Henderson is on a pace to hit 53 homers this season. He is giving Hyde top defense, speed and batting every day.

“He’s just gotten better and better in every single area,” Hyde said pregame Monday. “The difference between this year and last year offensively for me is the ability to really stay on the ball on the outer part of the plate. The power that he shows the other way. The way he can cover the plate. Feel like the offspeed pitch he hit out 10 rows in left-center in Chicago, that is not normal.

“So, he can cover out there. He’s obviously super fast (with his bat speed) inside so he can beat you pull side too. Then the speed. So, strength, speed and power. And then the defense has come a long way. I know he made an error (Sunday), but he has playing so well defensively with huge range and the arm that he has. He has just gotten better in every way.”